Job Title: Strategy & Impact Officer
Hiring Organization: Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa
Location – Locality: Nairobi
Location – Region: Kenya
Industry: NGO
Job Type: Full Time
Salary: KES
Date Posted: 06/03/2024
Role
Purpose
The
purpose of the Strategy and Impact function is in service of quality &
performance within the Opportunity Model and will be enabled by a dynamic,
cohesive, and right-sized approach to strategy development and renewal. Each
component of the model—Opportunities, Core Partner Allocations, and Urgent
Capital Allocations—will have a bespoke strategy setting and renewal process
and approach to monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) plans based on the
purpose and goals of each allocation. A dedicated Strategy & Impact unit
will ensure a consistent and unified approach to strategy across the
organization.
The Officer, Strategy & Impact Will Help Provide:
Strong
Strategy Support for the Opportunity Model: they will serve as a focal point
for anyone pursuing an Opportunity to provide guidance and support and will
have access to outsourced support for strategy support to ensure that all ideas
can develop into full Opportunities
Standard
Setting & Overview: Based on clear benchmarks and expectations developed by
the unit, the officer will help translate these requirements into services that
can help OSF staff understand what is required for strategy inputs, MEL, data
validity, etc., to conduct oversight where necessary. The officer will help
populate and ensure data consistency for dashboards and other analytic products
that show the whole of work across the organization
Rigorous
Examination: the officer will maintain knowledge of and relationships with
outsourced capacities needed to ensure highest quality of thinking is available
to the network in strategy pursuit. They will help provide rigorous feedback to
ensure adherence to standards
Key
Responsibilities
As
Officer of Strategy and Impact, you will:
Support
with development, implementation, and monitoring of day-to-day tasks that
ensure that Strategy & Impact helps catalyze and maintain the model with
strong strategies for Opportunities that are based on impact and promising
ideas on the frontiers of systems change
Support
the provision of services and guidance to the network that allows OSF to
unleash potential and action the new vision to ensure the most competitive
ideas succeed
Provide
individual support for Opportunity development; it will also provide support
for Core Partner, Urgent Capital, and embedded functions.
Promote
and support adherence to standards, criteria, and guidelines, including on MEL
Be
conversant in dashboards and other analytic products that the Strategy and
Impact unit use to show cohesion, saturation, and innovation for the enterprise
Work as a
trusted partner to all parts of the network to ensure fidelity to the model,
rigorous assessment of strategies, consistent support to teams that need
strategy and impact support, and that OSF is flexible and capable of adapting
and shifting—including based on effective learning-derived information
People
Responsibilities (Total Team/DRs)
Strategy
and impact leaders outside of OSF, including on foresight, MEL, complexity,
systems change, consultants, etc., inside and outside of philanthropy
Essential:
Prefer
experience in lieu of qualifications
Substantial
experience working on developing strategies and designing and managing
cross-department, cross-programs, or similarly complex projects
Desirable:
Worked
with a variety of sectors – public, private and NGO stakeholders
Building
and maintaining networks of stakeholders related to varied strategy topics
Work with
consultants, researchers, writers, and other sectors, including for contracting
and budgeting purposes
Competencies
Functional
Competencies:
Demonstrated
effective time management, including with multiple stakeholders or other types
of complex coordination
Ability
to generate, capture and organize information and knowledge, especially on
topics of strategy development, foresight, analysis, and monitoring,
evaluation, and learning (MEL)
Ability
to take decisions and directions and convert tasks into consistent project
planning
Skilled
in drawing out patterns and communicating why the patterns are important for
strategy, analysis, and MEL
Experience
in budgeting, strategic analysis, and financial planning
Demonstrated
record of success with teamwork and delegating tasks
Clear
written communication and ability to edit with clarity and timeliness
Personal
Competencies:
Advancing
Diversity & Inclusion involves encouraging, respecting and seeking out
diverse viewpoints and perspectives, ensuring everyone has an equal voice, and
building workgroups that are broadly inclusive to support effective decision
making and cultural transformation across the organization
Looks
outside OSF to stay relevant and adapts to changes in field(s) of expertise.
Uses external networks to achieve positive outcomes for OSF
Establishes
goals, plans for contingencies, readjusts where appropriate, and takes
responsibility delivering outcomes that have a positive impact. Balances
risk/reward, and intellectual curiosity with pragmatism to get things done
Encourages
and seeks out innovative solutions and brings people on a journey
constructively and empathetically
Makes the
best possible judgements based on financial and time availability
Considers
multiple options to achieve long-range goals, appropriately balancing risk and
reward, selecting the best strategies for success
Builds
collaborative relationships inside OSF through the understanding and
development of other’s and own ideas. Uses appropriate means & tone of
communication to convey messages, seeks input from others and ensures
understanding
Languages:
An
excellent knowledge of English.
Knowledge
of other languages would be an asset